Weekly Discussions with a Sorting Hat
by The Elven Daughter
Summary: AU Zephyr Snape is forced to attend Hogwarts, but isn't part of any of the Houses. How is she going to manage going to school without being in a house and how will it effect her friendships?
1. Prologue

AN: I am not a rich English woman. Too bad, cause then maybe I would have the chance of owning Harry Potter. Nope, not mine. I wish it was though. I could pay off my college loans then.

I was never supposed to be here. I knew that. But I didn't have anywhere else to go. So this is my story. It's probably not one you'll be interested in since there were so many more interesting things happening at the same time. My name is Zephyr Snape. I am the daughter of Samuel Snape and Melissa Owens. My uncle is Severus Snape.

I know that many of you are surprised that Severus Snape has family. My father, his brother, was Severus' younger brother. I know that both of them had an interest in Melissa Owens when they were younger. Uncle Sev, however, chose to remain silent in his regard for her. His silence is what led to my creation, and to the man he is today.

I understand that my uncle is intimidating. But he has always treated me kindly. It was not uncommon for him to spend some time with my family and me during his breaks. Life always had a little more emphasis in it when he came to visit us. I think that he had feelings for my mother, but knew that he couldn't have her. He never let my father know of it though. I think this was extraordinarily kind of him. If he had, then there was a possibility that his relationship with my entire family would have become strained, and I would have hated that.

My family was always very important to me, but I was always the least powerful of us all. After all, a seventeen year old is never as powerful as someone twice her age. They had more knowledge than I could possibly hope to have yet. Their experiences should have helped them. I could never protect them. Not from something they couldn't protect themselves from. My father and mother died in a Death Eater attack. That is where our story begins.


	2. You want me to what?

AN: I am not a rich English woman. Too bad, cause then maybe I would have the chance of owning Harry Potter. Nope, not mine. I wish it was though. I could pay off my college loans then.

"Zephyr, get up honey. You need to Floo to your uncle now."

"Mom, what's going on? Why do you want me to Floo to Uncle Sev's?"

"Just do it honey, now." She looked worried. I'd never seen her look so old. I got up and followed her to her and dad's bedroom where they had a large fireplace across from the bed. She grabbed the tin that held the Floo powder and told me that my uncle was at school, so to Floo there. I opened the tin and dropped the tin as a dark haired man slammed the door open. He wore a Death Eater mask. I dropped to the floor where I had spilled the Floo powder and grabbed some of it and threw it into the fireplace. "Hogwarts", I yelled, and mom threw me through to the other side.

I fell on my side near a chair in a circular office. I looked around and found the door. I ran through it and down the stairs to where the Great Hall was. I burst in on the Opening Feast in my pajamas. Thank God I decided on pajamas that had pants. Everyone looked at me as I entered, and I ran down the Hall and threw myself into my uncle's arms.

"Uncle Sev, they're attacking the house. I don't know if mom and dad are ok. Please you have to make sure they're alright."

"Zephyr, calm down, just take a deep breath and tell me, slowly, what happened." He was rubbing my arms to try to calm me down. I shrugged his hands off and started over.

"Mom woke me up and told me to Floo to you. She didn't say anything about why she wanted me to just that I had to do it. I was in her and dad's room when some man just burst in through the door, and he was wearing a Death Eater mask. I had spilled the tin holding the Floo powder, but I had enough to throw into the fireplace and I yelled Hogwarts. Mom threw me through the fireplace and I showed up in a circular office, and I ran to you. That's all there is to it. Now will you please go and check on mom and dad?" He nodded and left me standing in the middle of the hall while he left for my home.

I watched him leave the Great Hall, my heart still pounding. I couldn't believe that the people who had spent their lives raising me, teaching me what right and wrong was, and held me when I cried could possibly be gone. My life was spent with them, in our small American home. They showed me what magic was all about, and that even magic had its limits.

Severus Snape POV

I walked as quickly as possible out of the Great Hall and as soon as I was out of sight, I began running to the entrance of Hogwarts. As soon as I reached the boundary, I apparated to their home. I popped into existence once more outside of the small two story that they lived in. The windows had been broken and the door was off the hinges. I got out my wand and quietly entered the building. Everything was silent. I walked through the living room to the kitchen where I saw my brother Samuel leaning against one of the cabinets.

His eyes were wide opened, and his face was fierce. But it wasn't right, his eyes were empty. The expression was slack at the same time. My little brother, the man who kept me from going completely dark, was gone. He just wasn't there anymore. Samuel had left me alone in the world. I bowed my head, and left the room to go up the stairs to go to the main bedroom.

I entered to see Melissa lying on the ground. Her clothing was covered in blood, most of it her blood. I sat down on the floor by her and dragged her head into my lap. She looked up at me and smiled painfully.

"Hello Sev. Did Zephyr get to you?"

"Yes Mel, she did. She'll be safe with me. I promise you."

Mel just smiled at me, patted my hand, and closed her eyes. Her pulse faded and she didn't take another breath. I got up, gently set her back down, and left the house. I apparated back to Hogwarts and walked back up to the Great Hall feeling older than I ever had before. I opened the doors to the Great Hall wondering how I could tell her something like this. I was not used to hurting her. I may not be a friendly man, but I had never done or said anything to hurt Zephyr before. I looked up at her after I had entered and her eyes were so wide. She was definitely afraid of what I had to say. I was about to open my mouth when she spoke up.

Zephyr's POV

"Please. You don't need to say anything Uncle. I can see it in your eyes."

He was confused I could tell. I don't think anyone else besides me, and possibly Dumbledore, was aware of how much emotion was in Severus' eyes. I got up out of his seat, and gave him another hug.

"Why don't you show me to where I'll be staying hmm?"

He nodded and looked to Dumbledore. Dumbledore stood up and said, "Why don't we have you Sorted tonight? That way you could take classes with the rest of the 7th years while your uncle takes care of your affairs?"

I looked at him and then at Severus. He seemed to want me to agree so I did. Professor McGonagall brought out a stool and a big old floppy witch's hat. I sat on the stool and let her lower the hat onto my head.

_Well, you certainly are a challenge aren't you?_

I stiffened when I heard the hat's voice and turned around to glare at my uncle. He could have told me what to expect. I hated having random objects talk to me out of the blue. I wouldn't even let the mirrors talk to me. He just gave me a blank look back.

_Yes, dear, I understand that but I'm not about to try to possess you, now am I?_

That remains to be seen, I thought back at it. So why am I such a challenge?

_You my dear, have qualities from each of the houses here at Hogwarts. I wouldn't be surprised if you became the darling of whichever house I put you in, excepting Gryffindor that is._

Why is that? I honestly wanted to know. I mean, I needed to know things like that.

_Because of your uncle, he isn't exactly nice to them. But that is to be expected of most Slytheriens. _

Do you mind if I talk to my uncle for a few minutes without you on my head?

_Oh no, go ahead dear._

I took the hat off, and the entire Hall seemed to gasp. I looked round and smiled, "The hat isn't finished with me yet. I just need to talk to my uncle." I turned around and looked at him. "What are the houses and what traits are associated with each house?"

Dumbledore's eyes got even more sparkly than they had been before I had arrived, and answered in my uncle's place. "There are Gryffindors, Slytheriens, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs. The first house I named is on your far right at the red table. They are usually well known for bravery, courage, and loyalty."

I couldn't help myself. "Ok, gotcha, the idiots who like to run into the middle of something before they know what's going on and never really think things through."

He started again, "Slytheriens are on your far left, the green table. They are known for their cunning, ambition, and ruthlessness."

"Otherwise the practical, business type, usually go in for being cruel. Next."

"Ravenclaws, the blue table on your left is where those who are more interested in the pursuit of knowledge go."

"Book-smart, but probably lacking in common sense most of the time. Next."

"And Hufflepuff, the yellow table on your right is for those who are hard-working, loyal, and has more than their fair share of optimists."

"The rejects from the rest of the houses. Probably more fun than some of the other houses though."

"Do you have a preference for which house you go into?"

I shook my head. "I really don't know anything about them. Could you tell me more? Are there some prejudices any of the houses might have against me simply for being me?" I grinned at the end as his twinkle started to dim a little.

"Well I don't believe they would have problems with you, but maybe with your actions, or relatives. But I'm fairly certain they wouldn't let such thoughts translate into actions that would harm you."

I sighed. "What I actually wanted to know was how well they interact."

"Well, Gryffindors and Slytheriens do not get along as well as I'd like. But most of the houses have some issues with Slytherien."

I looked at the houses and walked away from the Head table to a boy at the red table. He had dark hair and green eyes. Glasses too, which were quite cute on him.

"How well does your house get along with the others?"

He gulped and looked around to make sure I was actually talking to him.

"Well enough. We only really have problems with Slytheriens."

"Why is that?"

"Because they're…" He seemed to be unable to finish his sentence so I did it for him.

"Slytherien. That's enough for you to hate them? Hmph!"

I walked over to the yellow table. Hufflepuffs. "Are you of the same opinions?" This time I was talking to a blonde girl who wore her hair in braids. She looked around for help, but was getting none.

"Well you have to understand, we try to get along with everyone. Slytheriens are a little harder to get along with though."

I nodded and walked over to the blue table. Ravenclaws. "And you?"

This time they all looked at one another and seemed to telepathically elect an asian girl sitting at the front of the table as their spokesperson. "We try to get along with everyone. We find Slytheriens easier to tolerate than some of the other houses when it comes to certain things. We can see something good in each house."

I nodded and went to the green table. Slytherien. There was an arrogant blonde boy sitting near the front and he seemed to possess some sort of innate royalty. Or at least, he thought he did. "What about you lot?"

He sneered at me, and replied condescendingly, "The only other house worthy of consideration besides Slytherien is Ravenclaw. But being a Slytherien is inherently better than being of another house."

I hmphed quietly to myself and walked back up to the stool and put the hat on my head once more. _So enjoy your talk?_

Not really, I thought back at it, I mean come on, how hard can it be to cooperate with another house? I just don't understand why they are so dead set against one another. Although the Slytheriens at least seem to be more equal about hating everyone. So you going to chose a house for me yet?

_Actually do you think you could come back in a week?_ I choked and starting coughing. I'm sorry, I thought you just asked me to come back in a week. I can't be that difficult to place. _Well that's where you're wrong. You're actually very hard to place._

I took the Sorting Hat off of my head again. Everyone looked at me again. I turned around and looked at my uncle and his employer.

"It just asked me to come back in a week."

I swear my uncle was about to start laughing when I said that. I couldn't help it though. I was a little put out. How could it not know where to put me? Dumbledore was obviously surprised.

"We'll have a separate schedule printed up for you when you join them. What classes were you planning on taking this year?"

"Defense against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, a work study with the school nurse, and another work study with the care of magical creatures professor." Uncle Sev seemed extremely proud of my work studies. I was rather advanced in my school back home. Salem Institute was not only home to me during the school year, but also to my parents, who were professors there. I was not allowed to slack in my studies there, and I doubted that I would be allowed to here.

After that debacle of a dinner, my uncle took me back to his suite and put me in the guest room. It was a nice room, not very cheery though. I could have lived with a little more color in the room, although the wood furniture was definitely nice to have. I gave him another hug before going back to sleep, this time in a place that wasn't going to be attacked.

AN: Ok, just so you folks know, I will update if I get reviews. If I don't get reviews, I'll take it to mean that you guys aren't interested and therefore there is no reason to continue. Yeah, that is a threat! Review! I want feedback. I have no clue where I'm going with this, but I want feedback. Tell me what you want to see happen. I have a few ideas floating around on where it can go, but nothing is definite at this point. So I'll stop bitching now, and let you all get back to your lives.


	3. Denial

AN: I am not a rich English woman. Too bad, cause then maybe I would have the chance of owning Harry Potter. Nope, not mine. I wish it was though. I could pay off my college loans then.

And sorry it's taken me so long guys! I had a death in the family, then I was busy with school stuff, and I've just been having issues with this chapter. I'm just not happy with it at the moment. Who knows, maybe I'll go back and revise later.

Chapter 2

I woke up the next morning very confused. I wasn't in my room. The room was a dark green, with wood furniture. The bed was softer than mine, but the comforter on it wasn't as comfy. Then I remembered. I closed my eyes as tears started pouring out. I just couldn't control it. I rolled over on my side and curled up while I cried.

"Shhh, it'll be alright Z. I'll stick by you no matter what, you know that. Things won't be like they used to, but we'll manage."

I looked at my uncle. "I didn't hear you come in. You know, it took a moment before it hit this morning that I won't see them again. I don't know what to do. Everything is so different now."

Uncle Sev held me as I started crying again. I tried not to cry in front of him I didn't want to cry in front of anyone. I started sniffling when I asked him, "Don't you have classes to teach?"

He looked at me, a little hurt, and replied, "I had a family emergency. My brother and his wife died last night in a Death Eater attack. I have to contact the proper authorities about adopting my niece and arranging a funeral."

"You're going to adopt me?"

"Yes, my little goddess, I'm going to adopt you. That is, if you want to live with an old man like me. I could understand if you wanted to live somewhere else."

I smiled at the nickname he called me. Dad and mom had called me that as well. My name means "goddess of the west wind" according to the Greeks. "I would love to stay with you Uncle. Who else would I possibly want to live with? It's not like I have any friends at school who would offer to take me in. You know that no one at school wanted to get too close to a professor's daughter."

We smiled and I decided that it was time for me to get dressed although there was the slight problem of clothing. I bit my lip and looked at my Uncle again.

"You don't happen to have anything I could change into do you?"

After I found something to change into, and had changed, I met my uncle by the door to go down for lunch. Apparently I had slept through breakfast and he had cancelled his classes so he could stay by me today. We walked quietly down the halls towards the Great Hall. As I looked at the doors, I breathed in quickly. Uncle Sev looked at me with a question in his eyes.

"I just remembered my very dramatic entrance last night. I can't go back in there." My eyes were wide as I looked at him. He nodded and seemed to think about it. His hand moved to his nose, so I knew he was not happy about my sudden burst of shame and shyness.

"Alright, we'll go to Hogsmeade, and we can have lunch at one of the pubs there. Is that all right Z?"

I nodded quickly and we retraced our steps so we could get our cloaks. We walked out of Hogwarts in silence, and we're halfway to Hogsmeade before I asked him a question.

"Who is teaching your classes?"

"They've been cancelled for the day, and Slughorn is going to commute the next couple of days so that we can go through everything together. I don't want to do everything alone especially when we have to go back to the house."

I nodded. "Good point," I said as we entered the pub, "when are we going to do that?"

"Not for a few days, you need a little bit of time before you go back there."

I nodded and sat down. Madam Rosemerta came over and introduced herself to me, and left us with menus, and the assurance that our server would be with us soon. We looked at the menus and I saw several things that were rather disgusting and looked at my uncle, "What's **'**marmite**?' **"

He had a small smile on his face as he replied, "Marmite is a breakfast food. You probably wouldn't like it."

"Oh, ok then. What's safe?"

"You might like the Shepard's Pie or fish and chips."

I nodded and decided that the Shepard's Pie sounded interesting, so I would have that. A server came over, and we ordered. Lunch was filled with a lot of long pauses, normally interrupted by the server. We walked through the town before going back to the school.

"Oh, a bookstore, can we?"

He smiled indulgently, "Of course. It's been a while since I've gone and looked at the potions section in there."

"You're no fun! There is more to life than Potions, Uncle! You never know, you might meet a pretty witch in another section." My eyes sparkled as I got into our old squabble. It was always fun to tease him about meeting a witch and going out for drinks. He always seemed to think that no one would want him and I just couldn't understand why.

A bell rang above the door as we entered and I immediately ran to the fun books. I needed to catch up on quite a few series, and I just love books. There is just something about the smell of well kept old books. They have a presence all of their own. Sometimes just looking at a book can be therapeutic to me. I had picked up quite a few before I decided to go and see what Uncle Sev had gotten up to in his section of the store. I was about to go down the aisle when I heard him talking to someone. I could only make out a few words of their conversation, but my uncle didn't sound very happy to be talking to the person. He only ever acted that civil when he was truly disgusted by a person.

Severus Snape POV

I was looking at the latest copy of "Ars Alchemia" when I heard a voice behind me. I turned around quickly and nodded to the blonde idiot before me, my robes swishing around me. Lucius may have had a sense of style and timing, but he had no real common sense whatsoever in my opinion.

"Hello Lucius."

"Severus, it's so nice to see you again. You have my condolences for your recent family tragedy."

I nodded slightly and murmured a small thanks.

"I heard that the Death Eaters were unable to quite finish the job. Rumor has it that your niece was able to escape."

I nodded again. "I have heard the same rumors."

"Interesting, isn't it? I have also heard that if He were to get a hold of the young lady that she would be offered a position in his ranks if she were to go through His training."

"Interesting."

"Very. Although it would be interesting to watch her reaction to such an offer, I fear it would not go well for the young lady. One can only hope that she is in a safe place."

"I completely agree with you actually. One can only hope that she has somewhere to hide herself until she knows how to appropriately react in such a case. It would be terrible for her if she displeased Him."

Lucius nodded his agreement and said, "Well I hope that you are not suffering too terribly from your brother and his wife's deaths. You were so close to them after all, even after your father disowned Samuel. It would be a pity for you to be overcome by grief." He smirked.

I nodded again. "You needn't worry about me Lucius, although your concern is appreciated. Should you not be speaking to Draco though about his behavior with some of the other professors? It would be terrible to lose anything you have gained simply because he cannot control himself."

Lucius nodded stiffly and gave a swift goodbye before he exited the aisle and the store. I loved ruining anything I possibly could for that bastard. I looked at the magazine I held and skimmed quickly through some of the sections before deciding to buy it. I also went and looked at some other manuscripts that had been published recently when I heard Zephyr come up behind me. I smiled slightly and turned around causing her to jump a little. She grinned and shook her head.

"I don't know how you always manage to know when I'm behind you. It's very eerie."

"That's the point."

She stuck her tongue out at me, and I laughed. The clerk at the counter looked up and smiled at us. I glared at her and she quickly looked away. I hated having people watch me do anything. Zephyr looked at me and shook her head.

"You need to start being nicer to people. I mean come on, that could be your one true love over there and you wouldn't know it because you glared at her instead of trying to chat her up."

Zephyr Snape's POV

He gave me a disbelieving look when I said that, and I couldn't help myself, I busted out laughing again. I shook my head afterwards and said, "Ok Dr. Jekyll, would you mind getting these books for me? I'll repay you later, after everything has been sorted through and I have my stuff and all."

He shook his head. "You don't have to repay me Z. You know that."

He grabbed my books and looked at them. Then he glared at me. "How is it that you manage to find the absolute worst books possible to read? I mean come on, romance novels? Why don't you just get smut and be done with it?"

"It is not smut and you know that. Besides, Dad got me started on it. Not intentionally, mind, but he did none the less. He was reading these muggle romance books about vampires and faeries. I can't remember the author, but I'm sure I would know the book if I saw it again. Anyway, those got me started on the muggle romances and then I thought I should look and see what our bookstores have. So I started reading them, and I actually liked some of the authors. Besides, they aren't smut."

"Your father got you started on this?" He raised an eyebrow.

I nodded, "Yup."

"All right then. I was thinking-"

"Oh, that's a dangerous thing to do."

We were walking up to the counter and Uncle Sev started to pay for everything. "As I was saying, I thought that maybe we could try to go through all the legal matters today, if possible."

I nodded and started feeling distant from everything. We left the bookstore and ended up back at Hogwarts to deposit our purchases in the living room of his suite. We left his rooms again quickly.However,Dumbledore managed to find us before we made it to the hallway that led to the Great Hall.

"I see you're looking much improved from last night."

I nodded. The way his eyes twinkled irritated the hell out of me. He either needed to increase the twinkle factor, or completely shut it down. It mainly irritated me because I couldn't do it.

"Do your eyes just do that naturally? The twinkling I mean. Could you teach me to do that?"

He looked at me a little oddly, and replied, "I'm afraid that I don't know what you're talking about dear."

"Damn, must be one of those things you just do then." I shrugged, and looked around. "Why is everyone staring at me?"

"Never mind Z, I'll tell you later." My uncle was having issues trying to control his laughter, but he finally managed to choke it down.

"I was hoping that you would both join us for dinner tonight in the Great Hall."

I stiffened. "Ummm… nobody is talking about my grand entrance from last night are they?"

"I'm afraid that has been the main topic of conversation, but I wouldn't worry about it. They won't come up to the Head Table to ask you about it. I'm sure your uncle could keep the more persistent people away."

I looked up at my uncle and nodded that it was ok with me.

"We were going to go take care of some legal things, but if we are back in time then I see no problem with it."

Uncle Sev and I Side Apparated back to Hogwarts just before dinner was supposed to start.

"I have decided that I hate lawyers."

Uncle Sev chuckled at me and ran his hand through his hair. "I don't think he exactly wanted to have you around."

"I noticed. Which is why I hexed him on the way out."

"Yes, I noticed the Jelly-Legs Jinx and the Bat-Bogey Hex. I thought it was quite good."

I smiled and we continued talking as we walked through Hogwarts to the Great Hall. Uncle opened the door for me and then glared at everyone who watched us enter. We walked up to the Head Table quickly while we talked mostly about how long we thought it would take the lawyer to get someone else to take the hexes off of him because my Uncle had apparently done something to the man's wand. He refused to tell me what exactly he did to it though. I probably would have applauded the action, but oh well.

I think the sight of my uncle and me talking so quickly about something frightened the students around us. I don't understand why though. I could understand that they found him intimidating because my uncle is an intimidating man. I could never view him that way though. He is simply too close for me to ever fear him. Anyway, we went up and sat down close to the end of the table. I was by my uncle and one of the other professors who was quite small. He introduced himself as Professor Flitwick. I nodded and told him my name before looking around to see most of the student body staring at me. I looked down and asked my uncle, "Are they always like this?"

He eyed them with a look of superficial disgust, "Unfortunately. But don't worry you won't have to deal with them on your own for a few more days."

I nodded and we started our dinner.

The days passed fairly quickly while I was with my uncle. The adoption process went fairly smoothlyand we didn't have many problems adjusting to living together. Uncle Sev put a sitting room in for me with its own exit out of the suite. He said it was soI could have my friends over after I had been here a while. I couldn't see a lot of people trying to get close to me. I had a feeling it would be like it was back at Salem with no one wanting to get close to a relative of a professor especially when the professor was likely to take points off for any sort of backtalk. I found Uncle Sev amusing. Oh well, anyway, I managed to avoid thinking about my parent**s** too much while I was with him until the Friday when we left to go through things at the house.

I woke up that morning feeling absolutely shitty I just did not want to get out of bed. I was still tired. I hadn't told anyone, but I had started having dreams about that night. I know that is a fairly common occurrence according to psychologists, so I didn't tell my uncle. I was dealing with it the best way I thought I could, on my own. I finally got myself out of bed and into some of the clothes my uncle had left out on a chair in my room the night before. He just kept transfiguring a pair of his robes to fit me. I would always clean them afterwards with a charm, but it didn't matter. He wouldn't let me wear the same pair for more than a day. He said it wasn't **"**hygienic.**"**

After I got dressed I went out to the sitting room that connected our rooms and saw him waiting for me to go to breakfast with him. We went to breakfast, which was the least horrible meal of the day here because no one was very awake, certainly not awake enough to be talking about me or my situation. We ate quickly and left the Great Hall to go to my old home.

We arrived in an alleyway near my house. We had Side-Apparated again, with me in control this time. We left the alley and there was a woman waiting for us at the door to the house.

"Hello! I'm here to help you with anything you need." I wanted to smack her right away. She could not keep her eyes off of my uncle. I understood that he could be considered very attractive in his muggle clothing, but the woman could at least have some decency. We had just lost someone close to us and here she is checking out my uncle. I raised an eyebrow this time, and coughed slightly.

"Professor Rivers, why exactly are you here?"

"The Salem Institute wants you to know that we're sorry for your loss and that if you wanted you could finish out your school year with us." She went back to checking my uncle out.

"Thank you Professor Rivers," my uncle replied, "but Zephyr has already requested that she be transferred to Hogwarts. I'm sure the school has received the request for her school records from them already."

She got a little pink. "Oh, I didn't realize that it was a serious request."

"What exactly is that supposed to mean ma'am?"

The "ma'am" definitely irritated her. She got flustered quickly and replied, "Oh, I just mean that, well that is, the school thought that Hogwarts was joking. You see, we weren't able to verify any of the things in the letter and-"

"I'm sorry. You just said the school could not verify that there was a Death Eater attack on two of their professors?" She nodded and gulped.

I had never seen my uncle get so angry. He started to completely rip into her as I turned around to unward the door so we could enter the house. I had never liked Professor Rivers that much. She spent too much time trying to get my dad away from mom for me to like her. I could hear words like "incompetent" "foolish" "vain" and "irresponsible." I interrupted his monologue which was describing the good professor, and said, "If you don't mind Uncle Sev, I would like to get through everything with the house today."

He nodded quickly, and turned back to my old professor. "You will leave and not come back here again. You can tell those idiots who run your school that they will need to find new Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures professors. If they even try to bother us again, I will find a way to make everyone on the staff regret it."

Professor Rivers nodded and left with tears in her eyes.

"Hufflepuff," was all my uncle said as he entered the house and closed the door behind him.

The house was still a mess from the previous night. We had the funeral for my parents the day before and all that was left was for me to clean up the house, grab the things I wanted to keep, and sell the house. I guess that none of it really sank in until that point. Yes, I had cried for my parents' deaths but I kept turning around thinking that they would be there, or I would remind myself to show my mom or dad something and then it would hit me that I couldn't. Not anymore. It wasn't until I started going through the house picking things up and I started thinking about the fit mom and dad would have thrown if they saw it in such terrible condition that it truly sank in.

I had just finished cleaning the living room. The only room left for me to clean on the first floor was the kitchen. Uncle Sev was taking care of the upstairs. I don't think he wanted me to see where my mother had died. That and I also believe that he wanted some time to grieve for her and my father without me around to see him cry. I was a little scared to go into the kitchen. I knew that in there was the spot where my father had stood his ground and fallen. Instead of going into the kitchen and cleaning, I sat down for a moment. I started thinking of my parents then.

It's never a good thing to start thinking about the people you've just lost. I started crying again. I kept trying to get myself to stop, but I couldn't help it. I just couldn't understand why someone would do such a horrible thing. Then again, I would think that. I was always terrible at trying to get into the mindset of my opponents at games, and I had never had an enemy before. Uncle Sev came into the room and saw me crying.

He immediately came over to me but I waved him off. "I'll be fine. Really, it's nothing."

He nodded grimly. "I've cleaned the entire upstairs. How did you ever get your parents to not nag you to clean your room before?"

I grinned, "As long as I kept the door closed, they didn't mind. It was just one of those out of sight, out of mind things I guess."

He shook his head and his lips curled on one side. I knew that look; it meant he didn't want me to know he found it amusing. I grinned at him again and then he started laughing at me. I was glad he did. I didn't want to cry anymore. I knew my parents wouldn't want me to mourn for them. I knew that they would always want me to be happy, so I resolved to do that in that moment. I also planned on making sure Uncle Sev got a date sometime in the near future.

"Anyway, I've cleaned everything but the kitchen. I took a little break, but I'm ready to finish cleaning in there."

"Why don't I help?" He offered his hand to me. I smiled and took it. Uncle Sev pulled me up and we went into the kitchen to clean.

It didn't take long. A couple of spells later and it was all crystal clean. I probably could have eaten off of the floor if I wanted to it was so clean. Truthfully, I found it a little unnatural. I was used to the house looking as if it was well used and lived in not spotless.

We went to lunch at a restaurant near the house after that. It was only around noon. Our quick lunch almost lead to a fatality though. Remember how I said few people liked to befriend the professor's daughter? Well we just happened to run into one of the few people who didn't mind doing that. His name was Charles and he was one of my heroes. He protected me from other students until I could do it myself. He was a year above me, andhad just graduated last year I had not been looking forward to a year at Salem without him. He ran over to me and picked me up to give me a hug. Uncle Sev thought I didn't notice him fingering his wand.

"My darling goddess, however does the sun shine without you around?"

I laughed, the boy loved to flirt with me although we both knew that he was completely in love with his fiancée, another one of those rare people who didn't mind being seen with me. "Whatever would Elisabetta say? You know how she gets when you start flirting with other girls."

He just grinned at me. "I'm sure she would make an exception if she knew I was flirting with you darling!"

I just shook my head. I introduced Charles to my uncle and invited him to join us for lunch. He started talking about random things and told me all the latest gossip that he knew about students attending Salem.

"Well, you can be completely relieved for me. I'm not going to Salem this year."

Charles just looked at me. "What do you mean? That bitch didn't do anything did she?"

I just laughed, "You shouldn't talk about your former professors that way."

"Professor Rivers is a simpering bitch. Everyone knows it. Besides, you didn't answer my question, did she?"

"Besides checking my uncle out? No. Although she apparently finds it hard to believe that I could attend Hogwarts."

"You're going to Hogwarts? Wow. That is so awesome Z!"

I grinned at him, "Yeah it is." I didn't want to tell him why I was going there.

"Did your parents transfer over there to work?"

"No," my eyes started watering again, "Actually, umm… Well there really isn't a good way to say this. Umm… Mom and Dad aren't working at Hogwarts."

Charles cocked his head to the side, "What happened goddess?"

"They died. There was a Death Eater attack."

His eyes got wide and he hugged me. I tried to give him a smile but he saw through it. Charles was good at seeing through my pathetic attempts at happiness to what I was really feeling.

"Are you holding up ok darling? I know what they meant to you."

I grinned at him, "I'm doing fine. Well, as fine as I can be. Uncle Sev has been really good to me."

"Got him wrapped round your little finger too huh?" Charles gave me a knowing look.

I lifted an eyebrow, "I have no clue what you're talking about."

Charles just looked at my uncle, who nodded. "She's had me round her little finger since she was born. It was the exact same way with her father too. Thank god her mother was around or she would have been spoiled rotten." I just ignored that bit of the conversation and finished my sandwich.

After lunch we went back to the house with Charles in tow. He insisted on accompanying us just in case something happened.

We entered the house and began to go through the things we wanted to keep. All of the photo albums were going to school with me and Uncle Sev. We decided to send most of the clothes to a used clothing store, except for a few things. Their wedding robes stayed with us as did some of their more sentimental clothing. I refused to let Uncle Sev send dad's ugly flannel bathrobe to the store, I planned on keeping it. The furniture stayed with the house and would all be sold with the house. We got rid of the food and cleaning products. It's not like we would be using them. I took some of mom's perfumes with me. I liked being able to smell her whenever I could. Charles helped Uncle Sev take a few things outside to where the moving company could pick them up. We were only grabbing a few things to take back on our own. I had grabbed a few of the books they owned, ones we had read together, daddy's ugly flannel bathrobe, and one of mom's pictures from before I was born.

Uncle Sev and I left Charles there and Apparated back to Hogwarts. I had a death grip on the box with the things I had grabbed and we walked through the gates up to the door. We got back at the wrong time I guess. It was one of the passing periods between classes. There was a space surrounding us as we walked because no one wanted to get too close to the Professor and the girl with teary eyes. One of the boys in Gryffindor robes wasn't paying too much attention to where he was going though. He bumped into me and I dropped the box. I gasped. The boy turned around and his eyes got wide.

"I'm so sorry miss. Here, let me carry this for you. I'm so sorry."

I looked at him and then at my uncle. Uncle seemed unhappy and was about to comment when I gave him a look.

"That is really kind of you. I'm Zephyr Snape. And you are?"

He grinned, "I'm Harry Potter."

I smiled and nodded, "Well thank you for your kind offer, which I gladly accept."

He picked up the box and then looked at me. "What do you have in this?"

I grinned, "A few books, and knickknacks from home."

He accepted that and accompanied us to Uncle Sev's classroom. He took the box into the office and shook my hand.

"It's been nice to meet you Zephyr."

"Likewise, and please, call me Z. It's such a bother to say my name sometimes."

He grinned and left. After he had closed my door my uncle snorted.

"And what was that for Uncle?"

"Your last little bit. Flirting with the golden boy now?"

"You know me Uncle. I'm just a natural flirt." I made my eyes wide and innocent looking as I said it. He just gave me another look. He grabbed my box and carried it through one of the doors in his office to his private rooms and I followed him. He stopped in my room and asked, "Where would you like it?"

"On the table if you please." I leaned against the doorway. "So what exactly is it that you have against that boy?"

"I'm not going to get into one of these discussions with you goddess. We both know that neither one of us will agree, and we'll just end up being angry at each other."

I nodded, "All right then, want to charm one of my cd players so that it'll run off magic? I want to be able to listen to my music without bothering you."

He nodded and left my room. I went and sat by the table with my parents things on it. I just stared at the box wondering if I should delve into it now or later. It's not like I didn't know what was in it but actually unpacking it and putting the things somewhere in the room seemed like it would be accepting what happened. I didn't want to accept any of it.


	4. Beginning Classes

Hello again. No I'm not J.K. Rowling. I am just a poor little college student. How sad. Boo hoo. Anyway, I own nothing, so don't sue me, especially since I don't own this to begin with. The only part that came out of my head was Zephyr and the plot that goes with her. And sorry it took so long. My computer died on me, and I lost everything I had. This survived merely because I had already sent it to my wonderful beta, chocolateshoppejunkie.

_He nodded and left my room. I went and sat by the table with my parents things on it. I just stared at the box wondering if I should delve into it now or later. It's not like I didn't know what was in it but actually unpacking it and putting the things somewhere in the room seemed like it would be accepting what happened. I didn't want to accept any of it._

Chapter 3

The next day I started classes. I went to a double period of Care of Magical Creatures first thing in the morning. I ate breakfast quickly, gave my uncle a kiss on the cheek and ran to class. I love the man, but I needed to spend some time outside of our suite and the Great Hall. I wanted to make some friends, even though I knew that wouldn't be easy with Uncle Sev as a professor here. The class I had was with Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. They were only there for the first half of my class. The second part was a one on one session with the professor that was supposed to go more into how to handle the animals.

I got there before anyone else did and I started to take out my books to do a little reading before class begun. A big burly man came out of a hut nearby and walked over to me.

"'Ello. Are ya the new girl?"

I looked up, "Yes, are you the professor for this class?" I held my book up.

He nodded, "I'm Hagrid." He sat down next to me causing the bench to tilt slightly. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. He definitely had giant blood in him somewhere. No one got that big naturally.

"You're Professor Snape's niece?" I nodded. It's pointless to deny something that is common knowledge. He started telling me the things I could expect to learn this term and what he would expect me to help him with in the class. I would have to pass things out to the classes and I would be his assistant basically. The rest of the term sounded like it would be fairly interesting. He was planning on doing some really nifty things since he had me to assist him and my mother's academic report on me had been fairly complimentary.

He was just starting to go into detail on one of the creatures we would be working with in the next couple of weeks when his class arrived. It was a 5th year class of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. None of them seemed too eager to be in the class although they had to have signed up for it. Maybe it was because of how early the class was. I couldn't see any other reason for their behavior.

Hagrid started the class by telling them what to expect this year. He was interrupted by one of the students who asked how exactly they were supposed to open their books. I couldn't believe it. It should have been fairly obvious, especially to a class that pays attention in their classes the year before. All you had to do was pet the spine of the book, which I answered for him. I didn't mean to but I just couldn't help myself. It would be like not allowing a bibliophile to read. I think that may have surprised some of the students, but Hagrid gave me a big grin. I think I got brownie points for that.

He showed the class the first creature of the year, which was a Demiguise. He had one of the students tell him what a Demiguise was before he actually showed it to the class.

A Ravenclaw answered him saying, "The Demiguise is a peaceful herbivore, having the appearance of a large ape. It is rarely seen, however, as it has the ability to make itself invisible. Demiguise hair can be used to make Invisibility Cloaks."

Hagrid beamed at him and said, "That's exactly right. Now, this Demiguise is a male called Klutz."

The rest of the class went surprisingly smoothly. He told them how they harvested the hair from the Demiguise, which was hardly friendly during the process. Hagrid also told them about mating rituals, its habitats, and its normal reaction to other magical creatures and humans. It was quite informative. The Demiguise stayed visible for most of the class and even allowed some of the students to touch him. Hagrid had me walk with the students back to Hogwarts before finishing my lesson. They started talking on the way back to class about how it went.

"I was afraid it was going to be something like those Blast-Ended Skrewts from last year. That was really cool though."

"I know, I was afraid of the same thing! That Demiguise was really neat though."

"I'm sorry; I don't know what you're talking about. What is a Blast-Ended Skrewt?" I was very confused.

The other students looked at me like I was a freak.

"I'm Professor Snape's niece. I really don't know what you're talking about."

They finally seemed to realize what that meant, and then seemed to either jump to get closer to me or to get away from me. A few of them asked what my uncle was like, completely ignoring my question and a few asked if it was true that my uncle was a vampire. I just looked at them with my eyes wide.

"I'll only answer your questions if someone answers mine. What is a Blast-Ended Skrewt?"

One of the girls answered for the group, "Its something that we think Hagrid might have bred for himself. It was kind of like a lobster, but one sex had suckers on their belly, and the other one had a bit that could spit fire. It was scary."

"I see." I nodded and left the group to go and finish my lesson.

"Wait!" I stopped and looked back at them, "Yes?"

"You never answered our questions. What is he like in private, is he just as bad? Is it true that he's a vampire?"

I laughed. "My uncle, your professor, would kill me if I told you what he was like in private, and he is not a vampire. Although, I'm sure he would be happy to know that he has terrified you all that much."

I walked back to Hagrid and finished my lesson.

Hagrid's lesson was more of a review for me than anything. He told me the sort of creatures his classes would be covering this year and what he would want me to help with. He also told me about what he expected me to learn. I think I might have impressed him a little. He didn't have to go over most of the things he would have had to with another student who had this class. The class ended far too quickly for my sake, and I hurried back to the castle. I was longing for a nice hot shower.

I ran into some Slytheriens and Gryfindors on my way back. The group had divided into two distinct groups and most of them had their wands out. Two students were a little more centrally located than the rest, and were yelling insults at one another. They seemed almost ready to duel, so I ran in the middle of them.

"What do you lot think you're doing?"

They all just glared at me. One of the younger Slytheriens looked at me. "You must have somewhere else to be, Miss Snape. We would prefer to continue on our discussion without your presence if you don't mind."

I looked at the Slytheriens. "I'll remember who was here if something happens. But nothing is going to happen," I looked at the Gryffindors to include them in the conversation I was having, "because you all are going to go to your classes or to your dorms."

"Who do you think you are to order us around?"

I looked at the snotty Gryffindor. "I'm not ordering you around. I'm just telling you what is going to happen. Now go."

They were all rather pissy with me, but they left. My uncle came up to me as they were leaving and looked at me. I just shook my head and we walked back to his suite so I could take a shower. I didn't want to smell like animals for the rest of the day. Besides who knows what dirt and filth I could have picked up that could affect my magic.

I guess I should have paid more attention to who I had been talking to earlier that day and how I treated them. I got a lot of stares from the Gryffindors after that little incident in the hall and the Slytherins were not being very friendly as well, although they disguised it better. I must say that it has always been my point of view that if you do not like someone, you should still disguise that fact and act civil towards them. The Gryffindors did not seem to understand that concept. I managed to have 3 different hexes, 4 jinxes, 2 minor curses, 1 major curse, several insults, and saliva hurled, or spat at me, as the case may be, over the course of a week.

The professors were all fine with my behavior and seemed to enjoy having me in their classes. My other work study course was with the nurse, a Madam Pomfrey. She especially seemed to enjoy having me around. The Gryffindors did not enjoy having me patch up some of their wounds. Honestly though, if they didn't want to deal with me, they shouldn't have gotten themselves hurt.

One of the students I had to heal was a 3rd year. She looked fairly normal until you saw that she had a curse on the left side of her face that could possibly affect her blood if she didn't get it looked at in time. When she saw me, she tried to walk right back out of the infirmary. I had already locked the door with my wand, though. She wasn't too happy about that, and glared at me. I gestured for her to sit down on one of the beds and started working on her face. I was actually fairly well acquainted with this curse, as it had been used on me a few times. I asked her what it was for formality's sake, though.

"I'm not telling you. Get the nurse."

I glared at her, "You will tell me, now. The nurse isn't in at the moment, so I'm the best you've got."

She mumbled it to me, and I nodded. It was what I expected. I started the counter-curse and the healing spell that needed to be said as well. Once it started shrinking I grabbed a vial of a potion, and gave it to her. She looked at it as if it was poison. I made her drink it, and told her to lie down for 15 minutes. I started cleaning up, and finished the task the nurse had left for me when she said something.

I walked over to her, "What was that?"

"You're not like I was told."

"What were you told?"

"That you poked your nose into other's business, and that you seemed to think you were special just because of your uncle."

"Hon, I am nosy, that's just the way I am, and everyone is special. It doesn't matter who you're related to in my opinion."

"Really?"

"Really, really." I smiled. "Besides, it's not like I've done that much here yet. The only friends I have at the moment are my professors and my uncle. I can't really be poking my nose into their business now can I?"

She grinned, "I guess that's true. But, they say you're cold too."

I grabbed her hand, "Do I feel cold?"

"Not that kind of cold. The other. You know, because no one has seen you cry."

"I despise crying in public. I simply hate crying where anyone can see me. I don't do it in public if I can help it, and so far, I've been able to help it. The only person here who has seen me cry has been my uncle, and I mean to keep that way. I don't need false offers of sympathy or pity. I refuse to be pitied. Besides, it's not like anyone here would know how to deal with me if I did break down and cry. "

She nodded. I think she might have actually understood. "I'll be your friend, if you would like."

I smiled, "Do I get to know your name then?"

She laughed, "I'm Zeva. And your name, miss?"

I grinned, "I'm Zephyr. It's nice to run into someone else that has a name that starts with Z."

"Yes it is."

I looked at the clock. "And your 15 minutes are up. You'd better get back to class."

"Okay," she hopped out of the bed and started to walk out, "oh, wait. Before I go, do you want to sit with me at dinner tonight?"

I looked at her, she seemed sincere. "Sure. I'll meet ya at the door, ok?"

She nodded and left.

The rest of the day seemed to pass fairly slowly. I told my uncle that I was going to eat with a student I had met earlier that day, and he seemed a little worried, but he nodded. He wanted to give Zeva the third degree, but he could hardly do that as he already knew her, and I wouldn't permit him to do so. He said she was an okay potions student, and seemed to excel mainly in transfiguration. What else could you expect out of a Gryffindor though?

I didn't wear my robes to dinner as it wasn't required and I felt like a bat wearing them all the time. I met Zeva at the door and, to my surprise; we walked over to the Hufflepuffs' table. She explained on the way over that she was mostly friends with Hufflepuffs, and didn't get along well with the rest of her house.

I nodded and sat down with her and her friends. They weren't just 3rd years as well. There was a sprinkling of every year except first years. Mostly Hufflepuffs as well, though there were a few Ravenclaws, and a Slytherin actually stopped by and said "hi" at one point. I think his name was Blaise, but I couldn't be sure. Zeva introduced me to the rest of them and the conversation started up again. The main discussions seemed to be about whose' classes sucked more. I actually told them a little about Prof. Rivers at Salem Institute, and they all agreed that she seemed to be worse than any teacher they had had to date. Although, one of the 7th years thought that Lockhart could give her a run for her money. The debate about who was worse was really starting to get interesting when my uncle came up to and told me that I was supposed to be at a meeting with the Sorting Hat. I had missed the first one since we had been running around, trying to arrange everything for my parent's funeral. I nodded and said goodbye to everyone.

I left the Great Hall with Uncle fairly quickly and we went to the Headmaster's office. Once there, my uncle excused himself and I was let in alone with the Hat.

I picked it up and placed it on my head and began to walk around. I just wasn't in a mood for sitting at the moment. The hat started doing its little shuffle through my mind and murmuring to itself. He finally made a comment about my behavior with the group of people about to duel.

_That was a little foolhardy of you. _Hardly, I thought. After all, if someone is really going to fight they wouldn't have let me stop them.

_Agreed, but rather Gryffindor-ish of you._ I shrugged. I doubted it; after all, I would not act like they did once they didn't get their way.

_Yes, that is a bit more Slytherin, and not allowing it to affect your studies very Ravenclaw. Sitting with the Hufflepuffs definitely raised some eyebrows, but you fit in well with the group you sat with. _I smiled. They're easy to get along with. None of them expect me to be anything but what I am.

_You know, they were all also rather hard to place. No one has been as hard to place as you though. _I smiled. Well, I am the first person in the school who wasn't placed in a house. Anyway, are you going to place me in one today?

_No, you're still so difficult to place. I don't think I can put you in a House yet._

Why not? And besides, don't I have to be in a House eventually? The professors will be quite disturbed if they can't take points off of one of the Houses simply because I haven't got one.

_No, they would probably just pick whatever House they thought you were most like at that moment._

Oh that's sure to earn me friends.

_And here I thought that they wouldn't have been the type of friends you would have wanted, if that really mattered to them._

I couldn't help myself, I giggled. You're pretty right; I wouldn't want to deal with that sort of a friend.

And that's it for now folks. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with more after my finals are over. I'm going to try to pick up the action in the next few chapters, but I want to make sure that I've got the proper foundations for everything that I want to happen so it might be slow for a little while. Thanks so much for still reading it! And I really do appreciate any constructive criticism you can give me.


	5. Conflicts and Resolutions

Hello again! You people know the drill, I'm not J.K. Rowling and I certainly don't own Harry Potter or any of the stuff related to it. The only thing that belongs to me here is Zephyr and any other characters I decide to create. Sorry it's been a while. But life has been crazy!

_Oh that's sure to earn me friends._

_And here I thought that they wouldn't have been the type of friends you would have wanted, if that really mattered to them._

_I couldn't help myself, I giggled. You're pretty right; I wouldn't want to deal with that sort of a friend._

Chapter 4

I woke up the next day with a pounding headache and cramps. I knew that meant I was going to start my period soon. Unfortunately, I hadn't brought any tampons or pads with me to Hogwarts after cleaning the house. I was going to either have to make my uncle go on a shopping trip, or go on one by myself. The only problem with that was that I was never able to find a wizarding brand that I liked, so I normally bought the muggle brands. I also had classes all today, so it would be very hard for me to sneak out to go buy them. I quickly got dressed and met my uncle in the living room between our bedrooms.

"Uncle, I have a slight problem."

He looked at me, worry shining in his eyes, "What's the problem? Did someone do something? Who do I need to punish?"

"No, it's nothing like that. I need tampons."

I don't think I've ever seen my uncle go as pale as he did at that moment. His eyes widened and he couldn't talk for several seconds. When he was finally able to speak, it was to ask if I could simply go down to Hogsmeade and get it myself.

"Unfortunately not. I have classes all day. I was hoping you'd be able to go and get me some at a muggle store as well. I'll write down what type I want you to get me, okay?"

He only nodded, but he wasn't very happy about it. I wrote down the brand and type I wanted, and went to breakfast. I sat with Zeva at the Hufflepuff table again.

"Well you lot seem bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning."

Zeva glared at me, "You morning people are simply disgusting. I don't believe in getting up before a decent hour, which isn't until 10:00 at the earliest in my opinion."

"That's far too late in the day to get any real work done."

A new voice joined our conversation, "I'm afraid I must agree with the Gryffindor. Mornings are for sleeping in."

I looked at the blonde boy I had talked to when asking about the houses, "But you wouldn't get any work done that way."

"According to who?"

"Me."

He laughed. "Well, you're very sure of yourself. I'm Draco Malfoy, and you are miss?"

"Zephyr Snape. Although I would be surprised if you didn't actually know me."

He smirked. "Well, one must try to be polite."

Zeva snorted at that bit. "Oh, I'm sorry. I just couldn't believe I heard that coming from your mouth."

He glared at her, "And that would mean what exactly coming from you?"

I interrupted, "You two aren't going to spoil my breakfast, are you? I would really hate for two of my new friends to argue in front of me."

They glared at each other, but loathing didn't seem to be the reason why they were glaring at one another to me. I thought that those two would provide some fine entertainment in the near future.

"Anyway I'm going to finish my breakfast and then head off to class."

"What classes do you have today?"

"Herbology, Potions, and Transfiguration. I had both of my work studies yesterday along with my Defense against the Dark Arts class."

"Who are the classes with?"

"Herbology is with Hufflepuff and Gryffindors. Potions with Gryffindors and Slytheriens, and my Transfiguration class is with Slytherien and Ravenclaw. My Defense against the Dark Arts class is with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. So I have a fairly nice mix of all the classes."

Zeva nodded, and Draco grinned, "Well it seems I'll be seeing you later today then."

He left and Zeva stuck her tongue out at him. I raised an eyebrow at her behavior. She simply ignored it and finished her breakfast.

My Herbology class was first, so I wandered out with a few Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors to the greenhouses. I hadn't met many other students outside of the friends Zeva had, so I was a little worried since I was pretty sure that the professor was going to pair us up in the class.

We all shuffled into the greenhouse and waited for Professor Sprout to start the lesson. She entered bearing a huge round pot with leafy vines growing up a stand. She explained what the plant was, and how we were supposed to care for them. She was turning it into a semester project. We had to make sure that the plants survived to the end of the semester in good condition or she would fail us. Then she paired us up. I didn't really pay attention to who she paired people up with until she came to my name. I was paired with a Hufflepuff boy named Eurus Omet. I wasn't sure which boy he was so I stayed where I was at. Eurus walked over to me and shook my hand.

He had large calluses on his hands. He was very tan and wasn't physically remarkable in any real way. He had brown hair and brown eyes, but he seemed to know I still hurt and I could see comfort in his eyes. It was strange. I had never met someone who put me at ease simply by being there. And he hadn't said a word yet.

"Hello, I'm Eurus."

"I'm Zephyr. Are you any good at Herbology?" I don't know why I was so nervous.

"I'm decent at it. I prefer Ancient Runes though."

I nodded, "I'm a fan of Care for Magical Creatures myself."

I looked at our plant. "Do you remember what she said we were supposed to do first for it?"

"I believe we're supposed to give it some water, and then feed it a few… that can't be right."

I looked at him, "What can't be right?" I peered over his shoulder at the book he had opened in his lap.

"It says we're supposed to feed it something called Pocky."

I laughed. "It likes Asian candy?"

"Apparently."

"Well the professor better be providing the Pocky, because I'm not giving up any of my supply."

He looked at me for a minute, "You like Pocky? What exactly is Pocky?"

"It's described as a chocolate cream covered biscuit stick. Basically it's like a stick of graham cracker stuff covered 2/3 of the way with chocolate. It's delicious."

"I'll take your word for it then."

Professor Sprout brought over the Pocky we were supposed to feed it, and gave us instructions on how to feed it to the plant. We were not supposed to actually let the plant touch our skin, but instead make sure our gloves were on. Then we had to stick the part that didn't have chocolate on it in the dirt. Then we waited for the vines to find the Pocky. After giving us instructions, she went on to the next pair and did the same. We looked at each other and the plant.

"Want to play 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' for it?"

He grinned at me, "Sure."

We both set our hands out in a ball and I counted to three.

"One, two, three."

He had picked paper, and I had picked rock. I pursed my lips and gave him a look. He simply grinned at me and handed me the gloves.

"There you go little goddess."

I stared at him, "What did you say?"

"Little goddess? Your name means 'goddess of the west wind'."

"How do you know that?"

He looked down and peered at me, "Eurus means god of the east wind. I got interested in what different names meant when I was younger, and looked to see what the other gods of the winds were called."

I smiled, "It's nice to know I'm not the only dork out there." I put the gloves on and grabbed the Pocky. I put it in the dirt as instructed by the professor, and we managed to finish the lesson on time.

Eurus and I walked back to Hogwarts together. I can't remember what exactly we talked about, but I know that he is one of the best people to talk to. He made me completely comfortable and didn't mind my quirks. It was great. We walked through the doors and he told me that he had to go up to Transfiguration.

"I'm afraid I'm headed in the other direction. I have Potions next."

He nodded, "Well, maybe we can talk again later. Perhaps at lunch?"

"Sure. I was planning on sitting with Zeva."

"I'll make sure to come and sit by you then."

We separated and I skipped the rest of the way through the castle down to my uncle's classroom. I got to the class early and saw my uncle. I would have ran over to give him a hug, but I didn't want to make his life more difficult if another student walked in and saw us. It wouldn't exactly help his reputation as one of the most fearsome professors around if people saw him hugging me. I smiled at him instead, and he nodded.

"I got your supplies this morning. I only hope I got the right ones."

"It's fine, and thank you so much for doing that."

"No problem."

After that a few students started trickling in. I had put my stuff down close to the middle of the room since I hadn't been told where to sit. Once everyone had come in my uncle slammed the door with magic and started his lesson.

"Despite the fact that I have been unable to be here, I hope that you have covered everything sufficiently." He glared at people while speaking, "And we will have assigned seats this year. Everyone will move to the back of the room and sit where I tell you to."

There would have been groans in any other classroom, but my uncle seemed to have sucked the will to do so out of this particular class. He placed the students that I had heard him complaining about being the most inept closer to the front of the class, and the ones that seemed to get it in the back. I was in the middle of the class along with Harry Potter and Blaise Zabini. I think he placed me between them to help stop any arguments that might occur between them. I ended up being partners with both of them since my addition to the class had made it an odd number. Draco Malfoy was in the back of the class and partnered with Hermione Granger. I'm not sure who he was trying to annoy more with that partnership, Hermione or Draco. The boys that were always following Draco around sat in the front along with a boy called Neville and a few others.

We were given verbal instructions and the boys and I divided the work equally. They were both being extremely polite and kept giving me quick little glances.

"Do I have something on my face?"

They looked at each other, "No, why?"

"Well neither one of you seems to be concentrating on your work much, and instead you keep looking at me."

"It's nothing," Blaise told me.

"Alright." I went back to chopping the gillyweed for the potion. They also went back to work and luckily stopped looking at me so much.

"Hey, Z, do you think you could pass me the other knife?"

"Sure Harry." I picked it up, "Here ya go."

He took it and started dicing up another ingredient for the potion. Blaise had put the ingredients in and was keeping track of when the next one was supposed to go in. He was also stirring the potion properly for us. When Uncle Sev came by, he simply nodded. He then walked to the back of the room. After he had been back there a few seconds I heard a loud clang.

"What do you think you are doing Miss Granger?"

"I didn't-"

"Everyone knows that you do not put that ingredient in until after the potion turns blue. Yours is still silver."

"I didn't put it in though."

"You have just lost 5 points for Gryffindor. Should I take more, or perhaps you would prefer detention tonight?"

She didn't say anything to that. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I had never seen Uncle Severus be cruel to anyone. He was deliberately being mean. I couldn't look at him. I had to turn back to what I was doing. Harry and Blaise seemed to take it for granted that the way my uncle was acting was perfectly normal and acceptable. I couldn't believe it. I worked on the potion with them and flirted with Harry a little bit when my uncle wasn't paying attention. Every word my uncle said in the class that wasn't specifically directed towards the class in general made my blood boil. I couldn't understand why he would act as awful as he was for any reason. He was never like that with me and my family. I just didn't understand.

At the end of the lesson he collected our potions and berated some of the worse ones. I waited for everyone else to leave before collecting my things. I moved to the front of the room towards his desk. He was sitting with his hands in front of his face. He heard me come up to the desk and moved his hands so he could see me. I glared at him.

"I don't think I can speak to you for the rest of the day. Your behavior in this room is reprehensible. I can't understand why you chose to act that way in here, maybe some day I will, but not now. And I don't want to speak to you again until I do."

He nodded at me. "I'll stay out of your way until you want to talk to me."

I nodded and left the room.

I never made it to lunch that day. Instead I ended up running around the castle trying to just find a place where I could be alone. I ended up in a room that was painted exactly like my room at home. Inside of this room, it was littered with pillows everywhere. It also had one wall that was like a huge muggle movie screen. My parents had taken me to see one when I was younger. I can't remember what the movie was anymore, but the experience was wonderful. We ended up making monthly trips to just see a movie. It was something we all looked forward to. Plus that way my father was able to keep up with his students by actually experiencing Muggle culture.

Once I entered the room, the screen blinked into life. It started showing a clip of one of my family's favorite Disney movies, "The Little Mermaid". It was playing one of Ariel's songs. "Part of your World" always described how I wanted to be a part of the world I saw other students experiencing. It had even more meaning for me now. I just wanted to be apart of someone's world and know that it wouldn't collapse on me. I just started singing along with it and dancing throughout the room. I didn't care anymore. I needed something that could just let me forget what my life was like for now.

It kept playing different songs from different movies and musicals. I don't think some of them were even recorded anywhere. I was singing "The Past Is Another Land" from Aida and just moving with the music.

"You know nothing about me and care even less. How could you understand our emptiness? You've plundered our wisdom, our knowledge, our wealth. In bleeding us dry You long for our spirit. But that you will never possess."

I was practically screaming the lyrics at an invisible person only I could see. I saw the man that entered my parent's room that night. I just kept singing myself out in the song. I was singing the last verse.

"The future is a barren world, from which I can't return. Both heartless and material, its wretched spoils not my concern. Shining like an evil sun, as my childhood treasures burn. Shining like an evil sun, as my childhood treasures burn."

I spun around toward the door as I sang out the last word, and saw him. I just stopped when I saw him enter the room and looking at me. I didn't know who he was, or why he was here, but I was so embarrassed at being caught here singing.

"Your voice is good for someone who hasn't trained in vocal performance."

"Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself first. I'm Dryw Neese."

"This isn't someone's private room is it?"

"Oh no! It's simply the Room of Requirement."

I raised an eyebrow and he laughed. "It becomes whatever you need it to be at that moment."

"So it may never be like this room again?"

"It will only turn back into this room if you need it to be this room."

I nodded.

"Classes are about to start again."

"Shit! I have to go to Transfiguration!"

I ran out of the room and left Dryw there.

Transfiguration passed fairly quickly even with my stomach yelling at me for not feeding it earlier that day. I managed to make it through class without embarrassing myself too badly. After class was let out I ran to the Great Hall to get to dinner with Zeva.

"Where were you earlier today?"

"What?"

Zeva looked at me, "You didn't show up to lunch and some boy was asking after you. I didn't know what to tell him because I thought you were going to be here."

"I'm sorry. I just needed to be alone for a little bit."

She nodded, "Well, just remember that there are people here who will worry if you don't show up to lunch and we don't see you anywhere."

I nodded and smiled at her. "I should probably tell him that I didn't mean to miss lunch huh?"

Zeva nodded, "He seemed really eager to talk to you again."

I didn't see Eurus in the Great Hall though. He didn't show up for dinner that night. Dryw came over and said hi though. He even sat down and charmed most of the people I sat with using his knowledge of their favorite school subjects. I walked back to my suite alone.

I entered the suite through my personal living room that my uncle had created for me. I sat down at the desk in it so that I could write down my thoughts on what had happened that day, especially what had happened in class. I couldn't understand his behavior. There was no logical reason I could think of for him acting that way. Eventually I just decided to go into the living room we shared and ask him myself.

Severus was sitting down on the couch, trying to read from the look of it. He must not have been meeting with much success from the way his fingers were probing the skin around his temples and the bridge of his nose.

Severus P.O.V.

"Why?"

I looked up at my little niece, and put my hand down on the arm of the couch.

"Why what sweetie?"

"Why do you act that way?"

I blanched inside. "I can't explain, not fully. I do have my reasons though."

"What reasons can you possibly give me for that atrocious behavior?"

"For some reason, that class in particular irks me. Plus those two Houses have never gotten along well. It's hard to control a class and to keep an idiot from trying to blow themselves up at the same time you know. I have never forgiven myself for even the minor accidents that occur in that room."

"But why do you terrify them so?"

"Because I need them to be afraid of me so that they will obey my orders without question in that room. I need them to do what I tell them so that they won't hurt themselves."

"That doesn't explain why you're cruel."

"I don't know how to behave otherwise in that class with those set of students."

"Do you behave differently with the other classes you have?"

"Not much," I admitted to her.

"Why does that class in particular irk you so?"

"Because every time I see Harry Potter, all I can see is his father and the way he treated me when I was in school with him. Unless I look into his eyes. That boy definitely has his mother's eyes. And she gave me that same accusing look that he gives me."

"You treat them badly because you can't get over his dead parent's past mistakes?"

"Mostly."

"I need more than that."

I looked at her. "When I was in school, I associated myself with some people that I shouldn't have. Because of those associations, I lost a good friend in Harry Potter's mother. When I met his father it was loathing at first sight. His father also tried to keep me from being friends with her. I still have not forgiven him or myself for what happened while we were in school here."

"Alright. What else can you tell me?"

"Nothing."

She nodded, her brown hair bobbing along with her. "Alright. I don't like it still, but I will talk to you now."

I hated not letting her know what exactly she was living with and the danger she was in just by being around me. I couldn't let her know though that I was spying on Lord Voldemort for Dumbledore. I couldn't let her be friendly to me inside of the classroom. And now I knew she wouldn't. She would only talk to me outside of that room. Then I felt the burning pain on my arm from the Dark Mark. I clenched my teeth.

"I'm afraid I have to leave sweetheart. I won't be back 'til later tonight. I'll make sure to have one of the other professors' check on you tonight."

She looked at me and raised an eyebrow, so much like her mother would have, "You do realize that I'm seventeen right?"

"Of course I do. I'm still sending Madam Pomfrey to check on you tonight."

She simply shook her head. "I'm going to go study a bit before going to bed. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

I left.

Zephyr P.O.V.

I went back into my room as he left through the door that led to the hallway. I put my headphones on and listened to the c.d. player that had been charmed. I sang along as I did my homework and studied. Madam Pomfrey did end up sticking her head in at one point, and I just waved to her. She smiled at me and left. After another half hour of studying I went to bed. I never heard Uncle come in that night. He was there the next morning though when I woke up. He seemed to be in pain but I didn't ask since I knew he wouldn't tell me if he was.

I went to bed that night, still not fully understanding my uncle, but not as angry with him.

The next day, I got up early. My body just woke up and was immediately awake. You know that feeling where your body just tells you that it's time to get up and you don't need anymore sleep? That was how I felt. I got dressed in jeans and a V-cut shirt. I put my robe on over it and went out in the living room to wait for my uncle. He came in not long after I got out there, and looked at me.

"Walk with me to breakfast?"

He seemed surprised by the question and just nodded. I smiled at him and hugged him before we left the suite. We talked about the potion that we had made in class the day before, carefully skirting around his behavior in the class. I also told him about my Herbology class and the boys.

"Do you plan on furthering your acquaintance with either one of them?"

I carefully did not look at my uncle, "Actually, I was hoping to get to know both of them better."

His nostrils flared, "How much better do you want to know them?"

"Well, I'd like to be able to call both my friends soon."


End file.
